X-Plane 11.01 is now final, both via our installer and Steam. We’re going to do one more bug fix release (11.02); at this point it looks like Gateway airports will go into a separate 11.05 release to give authors a little bit more time to work with WED 1.6, but we’re still discussing this internally.

In terms of timelines and releases:

  • Small bug fixes, fixes for aircraft SDKs, and small, tactical performance improvements will make it into X-Plane 11.02.
  • Big things like an XPLM revision to pop out windows, fixing the weapon API, the G1000, and more invasive performance improvements as we move toward next-gen rendering APIs will have to wait for 11.10.

That’s a lot of stuff in that second bullet point – there is basically no chance that all of that will make it into 11.10; we have enough long term efforts going on at once that some will go into 11.10 and some into 11.20 or something later. I don’t even know which of those things will be in 11.10 – basically, what’s ready around when we get to 11.10 will be released, and we’ll do another release when more features build up.

 

About Ben Supnik

Ben is a software engineer who works on X-Plane; he spends most of his days drinking coffee and swearing at the computer -- sometimes at the same time.

64 comments on “X-Plane 11.01 Released

  1. Just updated to version 11.01, I now have graphics at KSEA in the Demo that have lots of very small dots in the distance is the only way I can describe it, sorry.

  2. There are currently a number of ATC Control bugs which have been filed and which continue to exist in the current 11.01 release. One is a bug which crashes the simulator every time ATC is used to command a landing at any airport which has no tower. Tihis occurs at the time atc passes landing control back to the pilot on approach just after the pilot acknowledges the field is in sight. There are several other requested fixes and repairs to ATC that are long outstanding in the bug reports.
    Do you intend to work on any of these problems and correct them in the course of the repairs you are referring to? Do you want reports on ATC problems, or should the users wait until you say that you will be addressing and fixing them?

    1. You do not need to re-report an already reported bug if it isn’t in the release notes. We do intend to, for example, fix the crash at untowered airports.

  3. Dear Devs, what about some kind of remake of ATC you were working on (I reference to your live video interview a few months ago). Do you have some idea how far in terms of patch release it will land in X-plane?
    Thanks!

  4. Hello

    I downloaded 11.01 yesterday , immediatly I got a lost of fps and little black points blincking near the horizon line .

    I can see on forums that others have the same issue !

  5. One other really big problem is that the stability settings of the Autopilot Autothrottle cause wild variations in throttle application which never settle down and the VS setting also is unstable with the aircraft’s vertical speed varying by 100 feet or more either side of the setting. This situation just came into being in the last 2 beta releases. These events are now common in all of my legacy aircraft. To me, this is a real problem, and one that XPlane should fix or prescribe a reasonable way to correct.

    1. Please file a bug and include an aircraft that has this problem in 11.01 and not 11.0. This is very strange, as I am pretty sure we didn’t touch the auto-throttle at all.

  6. looking foreward to the complete G1000 implementation. And also the “next gen” render API ..
    The newly hired persons should be working on optimization… Is this a part of the new Render API.. (Vulkan)..

    regards
    Henrik

    1. I will report to Sidney and Austin how you think it is best that we utilize our internal resources! 😉

      I’ll post more about optimization and the road map to APIs in a later post.

      1. Thanks Ben…
        It was not meant as an “order” on how to run your company 😉

        But Austin or was it you that said.. The company was adding 2 more.. and one of the main targets was optimization/FPS 🙂

        keep up the good your.. Looking forward to see what you (LR) has coming..
        Not a tech guy, but reading your post all the time.. trying to understand !!!

        1. I think it was Austin, and the summary is at least loosely correct; we hired two engineers one of whom has already started, and we are making a major effort in 2017 to improve performance and smoothness of the engine; Sidney and I have already started on this task.

  7. Hi Ben, I can attest the improvements in weather (visuals and performance) have been well received in the various forums, and indeed now the most common complaint is about the limited implementation of AI aircrafts + ATC. Are there plans for those?

    1. +1

      I think AI AC have gotten faster in 11 – running with 6-8 of XP11 default AC with NO FPS loss whatsoever.

      However, it would be nice (and quick) to add some more functionality. Mostly profiles … so you could switch between different sets of AI AC when you switch regions… that would be SO great!

      In the long run, it would be awesome if Laminar could prep up the static AC’s to become AI AC’s …

  8. Sounds great! Updating now.

    One question (not related to the post, sorry): Yesterday I was flying near the Bodensee, Germany and I was surprised to see only grass where the sea should have been! I think you mentioned similar issues in an older blog post, but I’m not sure. Is this a known issue or not?

    1. This is due to having an old version of the scenery! Lake Bodensee is fixed in the revised scenery. DVDs have it by default, but people who were part of the beta & have digital download need to run the installer and pick the option to “update scenery online” to get the recut, latest & greatest scenery.

      1. Ah, now I got it. My installer did not have an option for “update scenery online”, looks like I had an old installer from early 2017 (I bought X-Plane 11 digital download when it was in beta). I updated my installer and now I see the option. Thanks for the help!

        1. In order to be able to update scenery you need all 3 of:
          – You have to have the digital version of X-Plane.
          – You have to have the latest installer.
          – You have to have used the latest installer for a digital download operation most recently.

          This last point is not important unless you (like me) have both the DVD and the digital download edition.

  9. I think the sentence “This version various plug in crashes.” in the release notes should be fixed; I don’t understand it. Missing “fixes”?

    1. Yeah, it should probably read “this version fixes various plugin crashes”. The XPLM nav API was crashing during betas.

  10. Yesterday after your post I used X-Plane11 Installer, no download.
    Initial screen says X-Plane 11.01.
    Settings, General, About say X-Plane 11.01r2 (build 110102 64bit)
    This is the correct ?

  11. Hello,
    may I please have a little request ? It would be quite nice if the Weight&Balance dialog also showed ZFW. It’s not a big deal but it’s a bit backwards now that if I want to match the ZFW to my plan I have to first set 0 fuel, then add weight to match my planned ZFW and then load the fuel as planned. It would just be more comfortable if there was a little ZFW number there somewhere. Thanks.

  12. In an attempt to bait some more snippets of info.. Are you mentioning the G1000 because there’s been a lot of progress towards completion, or is it just one random big ticket item on the list of “big things”? 😉

  13. Please fix the shadows on aircraft (inside and outside) when using “draw shadows on scenery”.
    Also, the power lines transparency is still bugged, they are white at dusk.

  14. Hi Ben,

    Any plans to fix night lights scenery popin in 11.02 or later? or any tool to flat airport runways? thanks again Xplane 11 is getting better and better.

  15. I’m super stoked about the prospect of Vulkan in a V11 release cycle – the sooner, the better. Vulkan currently has a bit of a dearth of heavy benchmarkable titles, so if XP11/Vulkan were started to be used by techtubers for benching, that might get XP some pretty decent exposure and free publicity. 🙂

  16. Hi,
    Just want to ask if this a known bug for 11.01r2?

    Glideslope for gps approaches is not displayed anymore for default airliners, ex B738/MD80 (I mean all that are equipped with the new default fmc).
    It did work before update for sure. I have current cycle 1705 from Navigraph. Besides, everything works fine for same approach in default GNS 530 when flown in default c172.

    I can file bug with detailed steps/screens for this if you want.

  17. Ive heard Austin mentioned that one individual is working with / focusing on the G1000. Maybe that individual can mention a little about ongoing work in that area? What can we expect in the first G1000 update etc? If not here maybe on facebook page or other xplane-blog.

  18. Any chance the jet reverser (throttle) issue could be addressed in 11.02? beta reverse is fine on GA’s but not on Jets? “Toggle Thrust reversers” is over ridden as well, and I would like it back as it is a lottery if you get either full reverse or full forward thrust?… A bug report was sent.

  19. Ben, it just keeps getting better. I appreciate the hard work you guys do. No I’m not going to request anything, report anything, or tell you how to use your time. I’m just glad you guys seem to have some “really thick skin” to put yourselves out there with all the info you provide. I like the fact that X-Plane seems to be a long game flight sim project with hopefully an infinite future.

    Cheers,
    Dan – just happy to fly!

  20. I’m glad to see the work and progress that you guys are doing with X-Plane. I have been a user since version 4. However, my busy life and limited time has only allowed me to be a casual user. As a private pilot I’ve logged many hours in the G1000 since my initial checkout in it back in 2011. So like others, I’m also very interested to see the further development of the G1000 for X-Plane.

    Another thing I’d like to see (if not already implemented) is AI rotary wing traffic. I think that would be so awesome, having helicopters, gyrocopters and V22’s taking off and landing at the various airports.

    Thanks

  21. I was very encouraged to hear that ATC at non-towered airports might be receiving some attention in the future and would like to encourage it’s development at every opportunity. In particular for AI aircraft operate in a Unicom environment.

    Vast numbers of airports in North America are non-towered, and online services simply do not have the user base to cover them.

    Let’s remember the rest of America!

  22. Hi, Ben. A bit off topic, but is there a plan to have a native solution for renderimg raindrops on the windshield at 11 cycle?

      1. Cool! I think the point of this is not to be aesthetics only (like it was on FSX), but rather be really another challenge for flying in the rain, something that takes you visibility off.

        The new FF a320 (to be released) is a great example of this. Together with the raindrops there is a texture/shader trick which blurries the windshield, similar to the heat wave. If you don’t turn your wipers on, you won’t see where you are going to land.

        Hope you can bring something like this to xp!

        Reference of what I’m talking about. Jump to 6:36
        https://youtu.be/pI1pH40NYC8

  23. Well…Im another curios irl G1000 pilot longing for further G1000 support in future sim releases.

    Thank you all for developing this sim!

  24. Hi dear devs,
    is there a channel to contact Austin to ask him about his eta for patch plans regarding the new code for ATC? I am so curious about this topic and I presume many of us would like to fly with a new ATC in the background soone then later ;-).
    Or would you from the team perhaps be so kind and ask Austin for us? I assume you have a greater chance / apportunity to get in contact with him :-).
    Wish you all a sunny / great Sunday – cheers.

    1. You can just email Austin – austin at x-plane dot com.

      With that in mind, I do _not_ know what is going to happen with the ATC code. He proposed to submit it for evaluation to an internal audience, and we have not done that yet.

  25. Hi – with regards to the ‘next-gen rendering API’ – can you elaborate on this?
    I would love to hear that you are working on using Vulkan to improve AMD card compatibility! In the meantime, I am selling up my RX480 and buying a 1080ti in order to make the game playable.
    I fly helicopters, so am probably requiring more specific things from XP11 which are more demanding (low alt high res textures etc). I feel that I have a reasonably high end system, yet often only seem to get around 30fps (sometimes less) – I can obviously make this higher by using a single screen on 1080p and tweaking graphics settings down – but still my GPU runs at 100% to achieve this!
    Keep up the great work though – I am loving XP11 – Thanks

    1. Compatibility of AMD cards with Vulcan? There is no miracle performance hidden.

      With Vulcan we expect better CPU utilization which means that CPU can feed GPU better, so if your GPU have no performance reserves now, you will not have it after, so no improvement for you. Problem is that more powerfull GPUs are limited by CPU as CPU can’f feed GPU enough. That will change with Vulcan. RX480 is, at current GPU market underperforming GPU.

    2. I have a 1080Ti, and it’s bored at 30% load, while only delivering 15fps (UHD mesh, photoscenery).
      I suspect that the card isn’t fed (triangle-)data fast enough, and maybe Vulkan improve this. If you’re only getting the 1080ti for Xplane, I suggest you don’t bother for now.

      1. If you’re getting 15 pfs, something is screwed up on your system – I have an i5 460 and I can get 35-40 fps with reasonably high settings.

        1. I thought so too, but other GL-bases games run as fast as can be expected from a 1080Ti (on Linux).
          As I wrote, the card itself reports only a load of 27-30%, while x-plane keeps 200% cpu usage. FPS is a bit higher with the default mesh and textures though, and all that at highest gfx quality, and lowest shadow settings.

  26. Just a heads up as I’m not filing a bug. I suspect XPLMGetDisplayedFMSEntry() is borked if you create a plan using the existing SDK, dunno about the related Set function as I’m bypassing both. I haven’t encountered a problem with the other functions.

    1. Grrrrrrrrrr….bugs are useful. Random comments that something is borked on the dev blog with no steps to reproduce or ANY detail whatsoever is….not.

      1. I can barely use XP11 in my machine and OS, just take mini flights in an alternate supported OS. I haven’t even flown a plane with the XP11’s FMS. I should’ve kept it to myself until my much delayed computer arrives, if it ever does. If you think I should still file a bug despite that then I will.

  27. Hi! Are there any plans to make bigger the waypoint fonts in the NAV display of the airliners ?

    1. +1 A variable setting of some sort would be best, methinks. This would really compliment the new flight path that X-Plane 11 now has – huge improvement over XP10. Nice job on that!

  28. There is a large building sitting in the middle of New York’s East River. Do you plan to remove it? Only way to get rid of it is to set scenery complexity to Extreme.

  29. Hello ben, great job yours, a single order please rain on 3d windscreen by default.please.thks

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